


The Heist

by mask_of_anubis



Category: House of Anubis
Genre: Gen, Nina Martin/Eddie Miller (friendship), it's heist o'clock, majorly inspired by BB99, part of sibunasecretsanta, post mystery season 2, season 2 cast, these kids will be the death of mr. sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:13:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25640389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mask_of_anubis/pseuds/mask_of_anubis
Summary: my submission for @frosbisher-smythe on tumblr as part of sibunasecretsanta 2020!It's Prospective Parents' Day once again and the Anubis students couldn't be less excited. But when Mr. Sweet decides to place the Frobisher Shield under lockdown for safe keeping, the kids set out on the ultimate parents' day mission: a heist to reclaim the shield and win eternal glory. Takes place after the end of season 2 before the school term ends.Prompt: 1. Nina and Eddie 2. kids needed to constantly distract the teachers during parents’ day
Relationships: Nina Martin/Eddie Miller (implied), Nina Martin/Fabian Rutter (implied), Patricia Williamson/Eddie Miller (implied)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13
Collections: HoA Gift Exchange 2020





	1. “WE SHOULD TOTALLY DO A HEIST!”

**Author's Note:**

  * For [@frobisher-smythe on tumblr](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=%40frobisher-smythe+on+tumblr).



> I haven't written fanfic for this fandom in forever, so this was really fun. I tend to go really subtle when I write ships, but it's there if you squint.
> 
> I've really been vibing with Nina and Eddie lately, but I did take it in a more friendship direction in this one since it's right smack in the middle of canon, so be warned it's not overtly romance. Hope you all like the heist elements, I feel like these kids go all or nothing, so a real, legit heist would absolutely end in disaster. 
> 
> Enjoy!

￮ ￮ ￮ 

WEDNESDAY 2:50 PM - STUDENT COMMON ROOM

After the final bell of the day, handfuls of students milled around the common room, chatting and taking their time before they trudged back to their houses. From Anubis, Amber, Patricia, Nina and Joy were in the middle of the discussion they started during their drama lesson.

“ _I_ think it’s a cry for help,” Amber said.

“And?” Patricia said. She took a big bite of the sandwich she had leftover from lunch.

Amber gasped as she was struck with an idea. She hopped out of her chair. “We should do an intervention!”

Patricia groaned, “Amber, not _another_ intervention.” She tossed her sandwich in her bag; her appetite was gone.

Nina nodded. “Yeah, Trudy said we’re not allowed,” she reminded Amber.

“But he needs our help,” Amber said. “The magic has to stop.”

“I hardly think Alfie’s going to give up magic because we tell him we’re ‘worried about him,’” Joy said. She put air quotes around “worried about him.”

“But Mr. Sweet you can’t!” shouted someone from the trophy room.

“Speak of the devil,” Patricia said.

The doors to the trophy room burst open and out came Mr. Sweet looking beyond irritated. In his hands was the Frobisher Shield. Alfie and Jerome were on his heels.

“Mr. Lewis, I would advise you _not_ to tell me what I cannot do with items of value in my school,” Mr. Sweet said sternly. The boys tried to block his path, but Mr. Sweet kept his pace.

“What’s happening?” Amber asked. “Why is he taking the Frobisher Shield?” She left her school bag on the couch and ran after them. The other three girls followed her purely to catch the drama.

“Please, sir, just be reasonable,” Jerome said when they caught up to the headmaster at his office. 

Mr. Sweet stood up straight. “I believe I have been far beyond reasonable,” he said. “The amount of tomfoolery, rule breaking, and outright disrespect for property I have put up with this term alone is outstanding.”

“But what does that have to do with the shield?” Alfie asked.

“Exactly,” Jerome agreed, “we won it for the school — it should be on display!”

Mr. Sweet, Jerome, and Alfie all started arguing at once. By the time the girls caught up, they were basically in a yelling match. 

At the other end of the hall, Fabian rounded the corner with a big box in his arms and stopped in his tracks when he saw the debacle. He walked up to the girls. “What’s going on?” Fabian asked.

“Dunno, something with the Frobisher Shield,” Nina said. “What’s in the box?”

“Prospective Parents’ Day posters, in case you all weren’t excited enough for it yet,” Fabian said sarcastically. He pulled out a flier to show them: _PARENTS’ DAY 2012_ was written in big bold letters. This year’s theme was _Arts and Sciences._

“This is ridiculous,” Amber huffed. She crossed her arms.

“I know, I _hate_ prospective parents’ day,” Joy said. “That’s the only thing I’m glad I missed last year.”

“Not that, the shield!” Amber said. 

Patricia snorted. “Why do _you_ care?” she asked.

Amber looked scandalized. “I helped win it!” she exclaimed. Patricia held up her hands in surrender. “Alfie hits a ball _one time_ and suddenly he’s some sort of school ping pong legend — _I’m_ the ping pong legend.”

Amber marched over to Mr. Sweet to join the fray. She declared, “Mr. Sweet, I don’t know what you’re planning to do with that shield but as one of this school’s premiere ping pong champions I must request that it remains on display.” 

Mr. Sweet looked like he needed an aspirin. “As have already explained _twice_ to Mr. Clarke and Mr. Lewis,” he said with a warning tone, “the Frobisher Shield has been the victim of too much tampering for it to be left out in the open. It is a very valuable and historic item, and so, it will be displayed in my office until further notice.”

The second he was finished, all three of them began protesting again until Mr. Sweet held up a hand to silence them. “The matter is closed,” Mr. Sweet said sternly.

Alfie and Jerome looked at the shield and then at each other. They knew it was a moot point. “Yes, Mr. Sweet…” they said together.

Mr. Sweet nodded and then promptly entered his office and locked the door behind him, leaving the three of them standing there fuming.

￮ ￮ ￮ 

WEDNESDAY 7:40 PM - ANUBIS

“Man this blows,” Alfie said. He collapsed onto the couch and the huge bowl of popcorn he was holding spilled everywhere.

It was movie night at Anubis; a new tradition Trudy started in hopes that it would create a more loving, bonding atmosphere amongst the kids. So far, it wasn’t working.

“Would you all shut up about it?” Eddie said. He grabbed a fistful of the popcorn that had landed on him and shoved it in his mouth. “It’s just a stupid trophy.”

“It is _not_ ,” Amber said. She swept the fallen popcorn from her seat and then sat down. “It’s a symbol of our victory.”

“I don’t often agree with Millington, but she’s right,” Jerome said. “I worked for months for that shield and now, what, my prize possession gets to stare at Sweetie all day?” Jerome shuddered at the thought.

“This is so unfair,” Alfie said. He chose to cope by eating copious amounts of popcorn.

“Alright, can we tone it down please?” Fabian said.

Alfie threw popcorn at him. “Fabian, the movie hasn’t even _started_ yet,” he said.

Nina scooped up the popcorn and threw it right back at him. “Well, maybe Jerome should get to it then,” she said pointedly. It was his night to pick, but he was making slow work of it since he took a break every 2 minutes to rant about the shield.

“It’s not my fault all the DVDs are boring,” Jerome said. He picked one off the shelf and made a face. “Which one of you liked _The Holiday_ so much you bought it on DVD?”

Mara’s face dropped. “I did,” she said in a hurt tone.

Jerome’s eyes widened. “Oh, sorry…” he said, clearly at a loss for words.

But Mara just grinned. “I’m joking — Joy bought it,” she laughed.

The sincerity left Jerome’s face. “In that case, this is rubbish,” he said to Joy. He tossed the DVD to her.

“You don’t deserve good movies,” Joy hissed. She hugged the DVD to her stomach.

At last, Jerome found a movie. He held up _Ocean’s Eleven._ “Anyone in the mood for a bank heist?” Everyone but Alfie and Eddie protested, but he ignored them and put the DVD in the player.

￮ ￮ ￮ 

WEDNESDAY 8:20 PM - ANUBIS 

About 30 minutes in, everyone was finally settled and completely tuned into the movie. Even Alfie and Eddie’s loud popcorn chewing and Amber’s constant, “Wait what did they say?” were no longer distracting.

In the middle of a scene between Danny Ocean and his heist partners, Jerome was struck with an idea. “That’s it…” he whispered to himself. Mara looked at him questioningly out of the corner of her eye.

“THAT’S IT!” Jerome shouted. He leapt out of his seat into the middle of the room. His housemates, all absorbed in the movie, jumped at the sudden movement.

Patricia threw a pillow at him. “Move, weasel!” she said. She and everyone beside her leaned to the side to look around him at the TV. 

Jerome grabbed the remote and paused the movie, which earned him groans from everyone. “I know what we should do about the shield,” Jerome said to Alfie. Jerome clapped his hands together. “We should do a heist!” he exclaimed.

Alfie was silent for a moment, and then his eyes widened to the size of golf balls. He jumped to his feet. “WE SHOULD DO A HEIST!” he said.

“WE SHOULD _TOTALLY_ DO A HEIST!” Jerome shouted back. Their other friends collectively rolled their eyes.

Amber looked puzzled. “What do you mean?” she asked.

Jerome couldn’t hide his enthusiasm. The glimmer in his eye was the same as when he was planning some disastrous prank that would ruin someone’s whole week. “ _We_ are going to plan our own heist and steal back the Frobisher Shield.”

As someone who was usually vehemently adverse to planning any sort of caper with Jerome and Alfie, Amber should have refused. But this time a big smile took over her face. She jumped to her feet. “Count me in,” she declared. 

“Amber!” Fabian said, shocked. “Don’t encourage them, they’re insane.”

“Fabian’s right,” Mara said, looking scandalized. “You can’t just steal something from the headmaster’s office.”

“Hasn’t stopped us before,” Alfie said. Jerome nodded.

“And how did that work out for you, Jerome?” Mara asked pointedly. Her face dared him to go toe-to-toe with her.

Luckily, Joy saved him from having to answer when she said, “Don’t worry, Mara. They won’t do it because they could never actually pull it off.” 

Patricia snorted and took the popcorn bowl from Alfie’s seat. “Yeah, don’t you have to be smart to pull off a heist?” she said. Eddie laughed.

Alfie crossed his arms. “We _are_ smart,” he said. “And, we’ve done it before — need I remind all of you of _the goose_?” He spread out his arms and flapped like a bird in case they all also needed a reminder of what a goose looked like.

Eddie sat up in his seat. “No way, _that was you guys_?” he said. He looked beyond impressed.

“That was _for_ something?” Nina asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes and yes,” Jerome answered. “Point is, we’ve done it before and we’ll do it again. Maybe just not with a goose this time,” he added.

“And just what are you going to do with the shield when you get it?” Fabian asked. “You can’t put it back on display; Mr. Sweet would just take it out again. And probably give you both detention.”

“Fabian, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it a hundred times: does it ever get boring on the anti-fun train? Or do you never tire of constantly —”

“You know what?” Fabian interrupted. Jerome stopped in his tracks. “I bet,” Fabian said, rising to his feet, “that not only will you _fail_ to steal the shield from Mr. Sweet, but that _I_ can steal it first.”

Fabian wasn’t someone who often stunned people into silence, but after that declaration, every one of his housemates (even Nina) dropped their jaws.

That is until Mara stood up. “I second that,” she said. “You all think I’m a goody-toe-shoes? Fine. I bet I could out-heist all of you so bad your heads would turn.”

Nina, Eddie, Patricia and Joy all looked at each other, stunned by the sudden turn of events.

Jerome surveyed his challengers with narrowed eyes. “Alright,” he said, “let’s make it a challenge — at the end of this week, we will team up and heist for the shield. Last team in possession of the shield at 3PM on Friday wins.”

“But Friday is Parents’ Day,” Fabian said.

Jerome snapped his fingers. “Even better — raises the stakes,” he said.

“And we can pick our own partner?” Alfie asked.

“Hang on, hang on,” Nina said. She pointed to Alfie and Jerome. “You two have already done this before, right? That’s totally an unfair advantage if you pair up.”

Jerome rolled his eyes. “Fine, Martin, if you’re such an almighty judge, how should we pick?” he asked.

“Oh!” Joy said. She shot up in her seat, looking as if she had a lightbulb glowing above her head. “I’ve got it: parents’ day! Our partners should have to be whoever we get stuck working with.”

“Suddenly parents’ day is a lot more interesting,” Patricia said. “I’m in.”

“Eddie?” Jerome asked. He was the only one who hadn’t expressed interest. 

Eddie sat up from his popcorn-covered seat. “Now, I’m down to mess with old Sweetie any day, but I’m gonna need some incentives if I’m expected to do any sort of work. What do we get if we win?”

Everyone thought for a moment. “Uh… no chores for the rest of the term?” Alfie suggested.

“‘kay, what else?” Eddie said.

Amber’s hand shot into the air. “Ooh! The title of ‘Queen or King of the Heist!’ And everyone has to call you that as much as you want.”

Eddie clapped. “Love it!” he said. Everyone was silent as they thought.

“Last thing,” said Fabian. There was an unnerving glimmer in his eye Jerome had never seen before. “Whoever wins, gets to _keep_ the shield.”

“No way!” Alfie and Jerome shouted angrily at the same time.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Eddie exclaimed. He was so impressed, he jumped to his feet and gave Fabian a clap on the back. “Whoever wins, gets the rest of the year off chores, the title of ‘King or Queen of the Heist,’ _and_ the Frobisher Shield.”

Jerome could tell he was outnumbered. “Fine,” he said through gritted teeth. “At the very least, I’m certainly looking forward to hanging that shield above my bed, where it will stay until the end of time.”

“Strange, I wonder how you’re going to convince me to let you hang _my_ shield above _your_ bed,” Amber said. She nonchalantly examined her cuticles.

Jerome burst out laughing. “Amber, three minutes ago you weren’t even sure what a heist was. Are you suggesting you’re going to _win_?”

“Jerome, I’m _telling_ you I’m going to win,” Amber said.

Meanwhile, their housemates were returning to their seats. “Can we get back to the movie now?” Joy asked, sounding bored.

“Millington, you couldn’t beat me even if we started with the shield tied to your ankle,” Jerome said, oblivious to the fact that Patricia had already unpaused the movie.

Amber crossed her arms and stared into Jerome’s eyes. “Well, Jerome, I hope you spend the next few days building an appetite, because I am going to make you _eat_ those words," Amber declared. 

She pointed in a wide sweeping motion at everyone in the room. " _All_ of you are going to regret ever doubting me!"

￮ ￮ ￮ 

THURSDAY 10AM - MS. VALENTINE’S ENGLISH CLASS

" _Check-in duty?!_ " Amber screeched. She slammed her hands down onto the desk, causing her colorful pens to fly a few inches into the air. "But that means I'll be chained to the front desk all day! _"_

"Amber, it will be alright," Ms. Valentine said with a placating tone. She looked startled by Amber's reaction. "It's the easiest job on the list – you don't even have to memorize anything."

But Amber still had a death grip on her purple gel pen. "Do I at least get a partner?" she asked.

Ms. Valentine rechecked her list and pursed her lips. "No, it’s just you. Now, don't worry; I promise you'll do fine all on your own," she said with a big smile. Ms. Valentine turned away to write on the board and Amber sat back in her chair in defeat. 

Jerome turned around in his chair and whispered to Amber, "So Amber, can I resume my normal diet now that I won't be eating my words?" He snickered at her furious expression. 

Amber clenched her fist so hard her pen shattered in her hand. Jerome stared as orange ink dripped all over the desk. He turned around, no longer laughing.

"Now look guys," Ms. Valentine said, coming around to sit on the front of her desk, "I know these parents' day assignments aren't your favorite, but on the bright side — better than a full day of lessons right?" She got half-enthused mumbles in response. "Okay! Next: we have Patricia and Joy..." 

"YES!" Patricia and Joy shouted at the same time. Patricia was so excited, she reached behind her to give Joy a high five.

Ms. Valentine beamed, looking surprised but overjoyed to see at least someone was excited for parents' day. "Now that is the energy I'm looking for!" she said. "You two will be working at the 'Science of Baking' station — very fun, very delicious."

While Ms. Valentine added their assignment to the list on the board and read off a few more pairings, Patricia turned to face Joy. 

"Are we not the greatest heist team of all time?" Joy whispered, whacking Patricia on the arm.

"This is going to be a piece of cake," Patricia whispered back. Beside her, Eddie rolled his eyes.

Joy gasped. "A _food_ pun — love it!"

"Alfie and Mara, you two will be in the robotics room," said Ms. Valentine. 

Alfie fell back in his seat, stifling a groan. "You've got to be kidding me," he said under his breath.

At the desk in front of him, Mara's hand shot into the air. "Ms. Valentine, is there any way to switch —"

"No, I'm afraid you can't switch," Ms. Valentine said shortly. "It's half a day guys, it's not the end of the world."

Mara looked over her shoulder at Alfie. "Harsh," he said with a scowl. Mara rolled her eyes. "Please, like you're excited to be partners," Mara said back. 

"Moving right along! Nina and Eddie, you're in the drama room doing a presentation on theater history," Ms. Valentine continued.

Eddie leaned forward over his desk and whispered to Nina, “Let’s pulverize these sorry Brits!”

Nina cupped her hand around her ear. “Did someone say, ‘American Revolution?’” she laughed, proud of her own joke. When Ms. Valentine’s back was turned, Eddie tossed her a sly fist bump.

When she turned back around, Nina wore a pleasantly surprised smile. Beside her, Fabian looked like someone had just pulled the rug out from under him.

“Wait a minute,” Jerome said to himself. 

“Fantastic...” Fabian mumbled, realizing at the same time what this meant.

“And that leaves Fabian and Jerome! You two will be doing a demonstration in the chemistry lab,” said Ms. Valentine.

“God, _Rutter_? Could this get any worse?” Jerome said under his breath.

“And I believe Mr. Sweet will be supervising,” Ms. Valentine said with a cheery grin, unaware she was ruining Jerome’s life. Jerome slapped a hand to this forehead. 

Amber raised her hand. “Miss, is there food allowed in the chemistry lab?” she asked.

Ms. Valentine looked confused as to why she was asking. “No, I don’t believe so.”

Amber leaned forward right up to Jerome’s ear and whispered, “Bummer.”


	2. How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Heist

￮ ￮ ￮ 

FRIDAY 8:00 AM - ANUBIS 

For 12 whole hours, Anubis house was perhaps the quietest it had ever been during the school term. On Friday morning, Victor sat in his office feeling unnerved as all five girls one-by-one descended the stairs. For once, they were not chatting or running. They were like mice. And, based on the silence coming from the downstair’s corridor, Victor figured the boys might just be dead. But he stayed out of it.

Downstairs in Jerome and Alfie’s room, Jerome and Fabian were speaking in hushed tones. 

“So, let me see if I have this straight,” Fabian was saying. He sat on Alfie’s bed as Jerome gathered supplies into a big bag with his back to Fabian. “You basically want me to be your fall guy?”

“Yes, I think you’ve assessed the situation well,” Jerome said.

“Believe it or not, Jerome, I actually have a great deal of experience planning stuff like this. With Sibuna…” 

“Doesn’t Nina come up with all of the plans in your little gang?” Jerome interrupted.

“What? No!” Fabian said, obviously highly offended. “Well, not _all_ of them. My point is we might actually win if we worked as a team,” he said.

Jerome finished packing his heist bag and stood up. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said. He clapped Fabian on the back and left the room. 

Fabian huffed and followed him out. But Jerome didn’t go to breakfast, instead he walked out the front door, presumably to go to the school. Fabian chose to ignore it.

When Fabian entered the dining room, he found everyone scattered around in pairs. Patricia and Joy were whispering in the farthest corner of the living room, and Alfie was talking Mara’s ear off in the kitchen while she made tea. 

But Nina was sitting alone at the dining table, scribbling furiously into a little notebook. “Morning,” Fabian said to her as he sat down. Feeling a little bolder than usual, he kissed her on the cheek.

“Hey!” Nina said. She squirmed away from him and slammed her notebook shut. “Morning!”

“Seriously, Nina?” Fabian said. 

“It’s a _heist_ ,” she said. She tucked her notebook deep into her book bag. “Any display of affection today is immediately suspicious. Get your head in the game.”

Fabian ripped a piece of a croissant with more aggression than he meant. “Easy for you to say; your partner’s not cutting you out of decisions,” Fabian said. A second later he grimaced. “And I shouldn’t be telling you that, should I?”

Nina shrugged. “Maybe not,” she said.

“Well as long as I am spilling confidential info, I’m glad it’s to you and not Alfie or something,” Fabian said. Nina smiled. She was going to respond, but then Eddie walked into the room. 

“Eddie! Come here, I have an idea!” she called. In just seconds, she scooted away from Fabian, pulled out a chair for Eddie, and began whispering to him about whatever was on her notepad.

Suddenly, Fabian was in a room of paired-up people feeling considerably out of place. He sighed, took his croissant and an apple with him, and stood up to leave. But first, he went to the kitchen to get some tea.

Alfie and Mara were still conspiring when he walked in. When he saw Fabian, Alfie immediately stopped talking. 

“Eavesdrop alert!” Alfie exclaimed. In a panic, he tossed his pastry at Fabian. It smacked his face and then dropped to the floor with a dull _plop_.

Fabian took a calming breath. “Is there any hot water left?” he asked Mara. She nodded and pointed to where she put the kettle. 

Fabian poured himself some tea while Mara and Alfie waited in silence. When he was done, he promptly walked out, wondering what it was about heists that was making everyone more hostile toward him specifically.

When Fabian was gone, Alfie asked, “Where were we?”

Mara crossed her arms. “I believe I was in the middle of telling you that if you plan one more explosion on campus, Mr. Sweet will absolutely expel you,” she said. The ghosts of last year’s parents’ day and Alfie’s smoke bomb prank entered her mind

“It doesn’t have to be an explosion — I’ve got plenty other tricks up my sleeve,” Alfie said. For emphasis, he pulled a bouquet of plastic flowers out of his jacket sleeve and held them out for Mara. “Get it?”

Mara was unamused. 

Alfie shoved the flowers back in with a frown. “Fine. What have you got for a distraction then?” he asked.

“Well, I was thinking something along the lines of a scholastic emergency,” she said. When Alfie stared at her blankly, she went on, “So basically, we tell Mr. Sweet that Jerome and Fabian need help solving a chemistry equation, _then…_ ”

“Hang on,” Alfie interrupted, “we’re planning a high-stakes heist and the best you could come up with is a chemistry emergency? One that doesn’t even involve a chemical spill?”

“We’re trying to steal a trophy not get _expelled_ ,” Mara reminded him. She huffed. “We’re obviously not going to agree on this. What else do you have?”

“Well, remember how I said I definitely didn’t misplace my audio surveillance equipment?” Alfie said. Mara nodded. “Well, I definitely did misplace it, so that’s out.” Mara rolled her eyes. “But… I do have these!” He whipped out two banged up walkie talkies.

Mara took one of them and inspected it. “Who’s the ‘J-Mister?’” she asked.

“Jerome,” Alfie answered. “And you should definitely tease him about it.”

“Noted,” Mara said. “So, do we have to, like, speak in code?”

Alfie looked offended she would even ask. “Yes, Mara! That’s the whole reason people use walkie talkies,” he insisted. Mara frowned, thinking that probably wasn’t true. 

“Okay, so I’ll be _Alfredo_ …” Alfie said. Mara couldn’t help but giggle, though she quickly stifled it. “And you can be…” Alfie thought for a second. Then he snapped his fingers. “ _Maraculous_!”

Mara shook her head. “Oh, goodness, please no,” she protested.

But Alfie just switched on his walkie and said, “ _Alfredo to Maraculous: we have a go on code names. Over and out.”_ He left the room, leaving Mara there forcing herself to take deep, calming breaths.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 11:30 AM - ENGLISH CLASS 

“Again, everyone be at your stations ready to greet guests by 12 o’clock,” Ms. Valentine instructed her class. “Any questions?”

Amber raised her hand. “No, Amber, you cannot switch stations,” Ms. Valentine said. Amber put her hand down. With no other hands up, she said, “Great! Alright, let's give these prospective parents’ a memorable day, shall we?”

“Oh it’ll be memorable,” Jerome said to himself. He tapped his heist bag maniacally.

Fabian, who was sitting beside him, narrowed his eyes. “Would you just tell me what you’re planning?” he asked.

“‘Afraid not, Rutter,” Jerome said, “you can’t be trusted.”

“ _What_?” Fabian said. “How so?”

“True or false: by default you tell everything, absolutely _everything_ , to a certain American girl who happens to be on an enemy team,” Jerome said. He raised an eyebrow, challenging Fabian to disagree.

Fabian looked to whom he was referring, and saw her and Eddie whispering quickly back-and-forth as they walked out of the room.

“...Not _everything_ ,” he said unconvincingly. “But today, you can trust me! For the next…” Fabian looked at his watch, “three and a half hours I have zero loyalty to her, I swear.”

Jerome crossed his arms and sat back in his chair, clearly thinking it over. “Zero loyalty?” Jerome repeated. He was admittedly intrigued by the sound of that. “Alright, Rutter, you’ve got yourself a deal, but it’s need-to-know only, got it?”

“Considering I’m your partner, I feel like I should get more than that,” Fabian said. But he held out his hand to shake Jerome’s anyway. “But to hell with it, I wanna win.”

Jerome shook his hand and then grabbed his bag. “And we will,” he said. Jerome gathered his things and got up to leave. Fabian followed behind him. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to the next three and a half hours, but he decided to grin and bear it.

Amber was the last one out, but before she left, Ms. Valentine said, “Oh, Amber, I almost forgot to give you these.” She picked up an enormous box from the floor and plopped it in Amber’s arms. Amber fumbled a bit under the weight. “Could you please hand out these information pamphlets to all the rooms? Mr. Sweet wants a stack at every station.”

Amber groaned. She thought to herself that she would like nothing more than to carry around a heavy box and face a bunch of smug people she was going to lose to. She hiked up the box and hobbled out of the room.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 12:30 PM - ‘THE SCIENCE OF BAKING’ STATION (HISTORY CLASSROOM) 

“And so, after the baking soda releases C02, the heat continues to rise, causing the water in the eggs and the butter to turn to vapor,” Joy explained to a group of interested parents. Their young kids only had eyes for the cupcakes displayed all over the room. 

“These two reactions create air bubbles, which turns the batter…” Joy held up a bowl of cake batter, “into cupcakes!” To everyone’s delight, Patricia held out a plate of blue-frosted cupcakes for them to take. 

Once everyone took one, the group was on their way. Patricia dropped her fake smile after what felt like hours. “What time is it?” she asked.

Joy checked her watch. “12:30 — you’re kidding, it’s only been 30 min?” Joy said. She really hated parents’ day.

But Patricia wasn’t listening. Instead, she was on her feet, peeking out the door into the hall. “Alright, no one’s coming,” she said. “Time for Phase 1.”

Patricia turned around to find Joy already throwing on her trench coat. “Let’s do this,” Joy said.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 12:35 PM - MAIN HALLWAY 

Unbeknownst to Patricia and Joy, Alfie was starting Phase 1 of his own plan. Ditching Mara was easy enough considering she was thoroughly absorbed in discussing the mechanics of a hydraulic robot to a group of fascinated primary school boys.

He silently walked down the hall towards Mr. Sweet’s office. In his arms was a bag full of stink bombs. Before he could set anything off though, Patricia exited her classroom armed with a plate of cupcakes. Alfie hid behind some lockers and spied on her as she knocked on the door and entered.

Alfie sneaked right up to the edge of the door and peered inside. Patricia offered a cupcake to Mr. Sweet, who was delighted. It was then that Alfie spotted the key to Mr. Sweet’s office sitting on the desk and was struck with an idea. 

“Mr. Sweet!” Alfie exclaimed as he barged into the office. Mr. Sweet stopped talking mid-sentence. Patricia turned her head and gave Alfie a searing glare that honestly scared him a bit.

“What is it, Mr. Lewis?” Mr. Sweet asked.

Miraculously, he hadn’t thought that far. “Um… I was just wondering… uh... where I could get some more of those pamphlets? We’ve run out at our station,” he lied.

Mr. Sweet looked shocked. “Already? I ordered 200 extra specifically to avoid that,” he said. He looked genuinely upset.

Patricia stepped between him and Alfie. “He can have some of ours,” she said pointedly. She held out the cupcake again. “Did you still want that cupcake, Mr. Sweet?” she said.

“Well if it’s anything like the deserts you helped bake for the dinner party…” Mr. Sweet said, reaching out. But before he could take it, Patricia let go and it dropped frosting-down onto the floor beside the desk. “Goodness!” Mr. Sweet said. 

“Sorry!” Patricia said. She knelt down to clean it up, but Mr. Sweet beat her to it.

“No worries, Ms. Williamson, nothing that can’t be cleaned,” Mr. Sweet said. While his eyes were on the floor, Alfie made a break for the key.

What Alfie didn’t know was that the cupcake was all part of Patricia’s plan. While they were all distracted, Joy tip-toed into the office, dressed in her trench coat, and successfully hid herself behind the coat-covered suit of armor.

When the spill was gone, Mr. Sweet stood up and said, “There we go, all sorted. Now, both of you, back to your stations please.”

“Yes, Mr. Sweet,” Patricia and Alfie said together. When she turned to leave, Patricia spotted the key in Alfie’s back pocket. She quickly swiped it.

“Oh, almost forgot,” Patricia said. She handed Mr. Sweet a new cupcake.

“And I think you dropped this,” she said with a grin. Alfie watched in horror as she dropped the key into Mr. Sweet’s hand. “Come on, Alfie,” she said. She pulled Alfie by his jacket sleeve out of the office and shut the door behind her. 

“Not cool, Williamson,” Alfie said when they were alone in the hall.

Patricia couldn’t keep the smug smile off her face. “What’s that thing they say? ‘All’s fair in love and heists?’” she joked. “Get your own plan next time.” 

Alfie huffed as she walked away back to her station. “Can I at least have a cupcake?” he called. Patricia turned around, grabbed a cupcake, and tossed it to him. He caught it, but not without getting frosting all over his hands. 

“Thank you?” he said.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 12:50 PM - MR. SWEET’S OFFICE 

Never in her life did Joy guess that she would be hiding in the headmaster’s office behind a suit of armor wearing the most insulating item in her wardrobe. She also didn’t predict how difficult it would be to stand for ten minutes without moving.

She had to remind herself of the glory and how great it would feel to beat Jerome at his own game. Plus, giving up at this point would mean getting detention for at least the rest of the year (if not worse).

Finally, five minutes later, there was a knock at the door. “Come?” Mr. Sweet called.

The door opened and Joy ducked deeper into the corner so as not to be seen. It was Mara. “Hi Mr. Sweet,” she said, “Fabian sent me — he says that he and Jerome need your help solving a chemistry equation.”

“Oh, well, I can’t resist a good challenge,” Mr. Sweet said. Joy heard his chair scooch back. “You know, Mara, I heard the funniest chemistry joke the other day,” Mr. Sweet said. “It got a huge... _reaction_!” he laughed. Joy rolled her eyes so hard she almost lost her balance. Even Mara could barely pretend to laugh. 

“Very funny, sir,” she said. Joy could visualize the cringe on her face. 

The door closed. Joy was about to hop out of hiding when she heard something metal clatter to the floor outside the office. “Sorry, Mr. Sweet! I’ve been so clumsy today,” Mara exclaimed. Joy assumed she knocked the key out of his hand. 

“Don’t worry, I promise you’re not the only one,” Mr. Sweet said. 

“You know what, I can find it and lock it for you,” Mara said. “I’m sure there’s a lot of parents waiting for the solution to that problem.”

“Alright,” said Mr. Sweet, “just make sure it locks, and please return the key to me immediately.”

“Of course,” Mara said. 

Joy heard Mr. Sweet walk away. She guessed she only had a few seconds before Mara came barreling into the office. Joy jumped out from behind the armor, climbed up on a small filing cabinet, and snatched the shield from its pedestal.

A second later, Mara burst into the office, but she was too late. “Joy?!” Mara exclaimed. 

Joy tucked the shield under her arm and smiled. “Hey, Mara. Tell me, how is life amongst the robots?” Joy said.

Mara was shocked. “What — how did you — _how did you get_ _in here_?” she stuttered.

Joy snickered, “Not by fabricating some dumb chemistry emergency. Remember to lock the door on your way out.” While Mara was still gathering her wits, Joy dashed past her and out of the office. 

Mara’s mouth was gaping as her frustration hit its peak. She spun on the spot in a daze. “What...” she wheezed.

Meanwhile, Joy ran out into the hallway. Hiding the shield under her coat, she speed-walked back toward her classroom. But just as she started heading in that direction, she heard a loud voice coming from around the corner.

“The baking station is right over here, if you’ll follow me!” said Amber. To Joy’s horror, trailing behind her was an enormous group of parents, and they were heading directly to her station. Joy looked to her right at the girls’ bathroom and weighed her options. She clutched the shield and ducked inside.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 1:10 PM - MAIN HALLWAY 

“You sure about this?” Eddie whispered.

He and Nina were lurking around a corner from their station, spying on activity in the main hallway. Just a moment before, Joy had dashed into the girls’ toilets wearing a suspiciously bulky trench coat. 

“Absolutely,” said Nina, “early victories are part of the plan. If you let them think they’ve outsmarted us, they’ll get lazy.”

“And that’s when we swoop,” said Eddie. 

“Exactly,” said Nina. Eddie had been surprising her all day; he was turning out to be a pretty good partner.

A moment later, Joy reappeared from the bathroom, but her trench coat was gone and her arms were empty. She scampered back to her station at a suspiciously casual pace.

“I believe it’s swoop time,” Nina said. She looked back into the common room to check on their current tour group. They were still busy watching the documentary short on Ancient Greek theater her and Eddie were supposed to show. 

“Okay, when the film finishes, you present the slides and hand out the pamphlets. I’m gonna go stake out the girls’ bathroom and find the shield,” she delegated. “The second the group is gone, alert me over the walkie.”

“Copy that,” Eddie said. He leaned against the wall. “Later, mind telling me why you’re good at this?”

Nina grinned. “Only if you’re in for a few stories,” she said. She trotted toward the bathrooms.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 1:20 PM - ‘THE SCIENCE OF BAKING’ STATION 

“Look, they’re all the same,” Patricia said. The last of a group of students and parents were finally leaving her station. All that was left was a stern-looking man who had been on his cell phone during her whole presentation and his sticky kid who couldn’t choose between four identical cupcakes. 

She was trying her absolute hardest to not tell the kid to shove off (she’d recently been reprimanded by Ms. Valentine for snapping at the parents). 

Finally, they left, and in came Joy. 

“Hey!” Patricia greeted. “How did it…” but then she noticed Joy had no trench coat and no shield. “Hang on, _where_ is the shield?”

Joy grimaced. “I promise I had it!” she said. “But then this huge tour group came in here and I didn’t think it would be safe. But it’s totally fine, because I hid it in the girls’ toilets!”

“The girls’ toilets?” Patricia repeated. “But we _agreed_ we should keep it here. Why would you…”

But before she could finish, a parent walked in, followed by a whole wave of people. Patricia groaned, and a few parents gave her questioning looks. She ignored them. The girls returned to their positions to start a new presentation.

Before they started, Joy leaned over and whispered, “Don’t worry, it’s safe, promise.”

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 1:25 PM - THEATER HISTORY PRESENTATION 

“And finally we have a painting of two men acting in a play whose name I can’t pronounce,” Eddie said to his tour group, who were all making the same unamused expression. “As you can see, the man on the left is playing a female character because, as we all know, Ancient Greek theater people hated women.”

After that unceremonious conclusion, he clicked off the slide projector. “Okay, take care and please grab a pamphlet on your way out,” he said. Immediately, all of the parents stood and hurried out of the room. A lot of them were grumbling to themselves about his poor performance. 

“Great, thanks everyone,” Eddie said as he passed out the pamphlets with fake enthusiasm, “don’t tell anyone about this station.”

Once they were all gone. Eddie pulled his walkie talkie out. Peering around the corner, he pressed the call button and said, “ _This is Bald Eagle, reporting all clear. Liberty Bell, do you copy?_ ”

After a moment, his walkie beeped. “ _This is Liberty Bell, I copy_ ,” said Nina. “ _National Treasure has been Nicholas Caged — repeat: National Treasure has been Nick Caged._ ”

“ _Copy, return to Pentagon_ ,” said Eddie. He checked around the corner and then ducked back into the common room and walked to the stage. 

Feeling confident in his spy abilities, he went for a somersault, but he ended up flopping hard onto his back. “Ow, dammit!” he whisper-shouted. He got up quickly so Nina wouldn’t catch him collapsed on the ground. “Okay, won’t be making anymore painful decisions today,” he said to himself.

He grabbed the flathead screwdriver from Nina’s bag and then knelt in front of the stage. As carefully and as quietly as he could, he lodged the screwdriver into the cracks in the floorboards and pried the nearest one loose. 

“Hey,” someone whispered from right behind him.

“Ah, god!” Eddie yelled. He jumped and Nina had to dodge the screwdriver in his hand. She couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “Would it kill you to walk a little louder?” he asked. 

“Sorry,” she whispered. Nina sat down on the stage and then pulled the shield out from her jacket. “How’s this for a swoop?” she said with a big smile.

“Damn, Nick Cage would be so proud,” Eddie joked. He grabbed the shield and placed it in its new hiding place under the stage. “Do I even wanna know how you knew about this spot?”

“Would you believe that I went through that crawl space in formal wear so I could hide an ancient artifact?” Nina asked.

Eddie considered it. “Dunno, seems on-brand for you,” he said.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 1:35 PM - ROBOTICS DEMO ROOM 

The last students in Alfie and Mara’s room finally left in search of deserts from the baking station, leaving the room empty for the first time all day. Both Mara and Alfie collapsed in chairs on opposite sides of the room. 

“You know, I never imagined that I could be in a room full of robots and not enjoy myself,” Alfie said miserably. “But I guess this is my new world, now that I’m a heist failure.”

Mara frowned. “Well, I wasn’t supposed to be a heist failure either,” she said. “ _I_ had a plan, and it would have worked!”

Alfie watched the clock tick. “You know what?” he said. Mara looked at him. “Who says we failed? Just because our strategies didn’t work and we have no further plans, no intel, and no idea what team has the shield or where they’ve hidden it.”

Mara stared at him with a raised eyebrow.

Alfie stood up and walked over to a chair beside hers. “I bet that if we actually worked together, we could do it,” he said. 

Mara thought it over. She was skeptical, but she also wanted to win. “Okay,” she said. “How do we do that if we can’t stand each other’s ideas?”

“We play to our strengths; divide and conquer,” Alfie said.

Mara nodded, though she was unconvinced because he sounded like he was just repeating things he’d heard people say in movies. Then, she was struck with an idea.

“I know how we can get some information,” she said with a grin. “Divide and conquer, play to our strengths — you work on Amber, and I’ll work on Jerome.”

“And soon we’re back in the game!” Alfie said. He went to the teacher’s desk and grabbed a piece of paper, a marker, and tape. He wrote “ROBOT MALFUNCTION!! - TRY ANOTHER STATION” in big, block letters.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 1:40 PM - CHEMISTRY DEMO ROOM 

“Jerome, are you going to tell me what you’re planning any time soon?” Fabian asked as he took a break from talking to parents. “I’m getting bored watching you do nothing while I explain chemical reactions to primary school students.”

“Keep your pants on, Rutter,” Jerome said. His eyes were on Mr. Sweet, who hadn’t left the room once since he came in to solve some fictional chemistry problem. “I have something for you. It’s time for Phase 2.”

Fabian did a double take. “What — Phase 2? When was Phase 1?” he whispered.

“That’s none of your business,” Jerome said. He handed Fabian a lock pick. “Now, go pick the lock to Mr. Sweet’s office.”

“What? No!” Fabian said. When a few parents looked his way, he smiled innocently. He whispered to Jerome, “There’s tons of parents and teachers out there, everyone would see me. Anyway, it’s been almost two hours. Do you really think someone hasn’t stolen it yet?”

“You said that you would do whatever I say, no questions asked,” Jerome said.

Fabian made a face. “No I didn’t. I would _never_ say that,” he argued. 

“Trust me, if you want to win, go pick the lock,” Jerome said.

Fabian sighed. “Fine,” he said through gritted teeth. “But I don’t trust you.” He walked out. When he left, Jerome eyed Fabian’s bag on the lab table. In one smooth motion, he opened it, grabbed Fabian’s phone, and hid it in his lap. Then he started typing.

“Hello, Jerome.” 

“Gah!” Jerome shouted, jumping a little in his chair. He looked up to find Mara standing right in front of him wearing a sly little grin. He quickly regained his composure. “Ah, Jaffray. What brings you here?”

“Oh, I just came to see if Mr. Sweet had solved your little equation yet,” she said.

Jerome narrowed his eyes but couldn’t help but grin. “So that was you? I should have known you were the only person in this school who would call a chemistry problem a ‘scholastic emergency.’”

“Well, I see it’s kept you busy. It’s been very quiet over here. It must be painful to lose at your own game,” Mara said.

Jerome just grinned. He saw right through her. “Actually, I’m just fine,” he said. “Plus, you’ve got your own game to worry about, haven’t you? I’m guessing you wouldn’t be chatting with me if you had the shield in the bag.”

“Well I’m guessing you wouldn’t be sitting here texting on Fabian’s phone if _you_ had it in the bag,” Mara countered. “And you expect me to believe you would ever voluntarily stay where you’re supposed to while Fabian does the fun work.”

“Actually, Fabian’s in the bathroom — he has a delicate constitution. I’m very worried about him,” said Jerome without batting an eye.

Mara opened her mouth to respond, but suddenly her walkie talkie beeped. “ _Alfredo to Maraculous — Code Green! Repeat: Code Green!”_ Alfie’s voice said. Mara had no clue if that was good or bad, but she knew she had to go, if only so she didn’t have to keep looking at Jerome’s smug expression.

She hurried out of the room and immediately collided with Alfie. Instead of stopping, he grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him. 

“Alfie! What’s going on? What’s Code Green?” she asked. 

“Dunno, made it up,” Alfie said. He pulled her around a corner so they were more out of sight. “I got intel! Amber let it slip that she thinks Nina and Eddie have the shield,” he said. He was practically bouncing with excitement.

“Really? Can we trust her?” Mara said. On one hand, there was a huge chance Amber was totally wrong, but if she was right this could be a big lead.

“I don’t know,” Alfie admitted, “but I do happen to know where Nina hides things in this school, and it’s right in the middle of their station.”

Mara frowned. “But then how are we going to get to it?”

Alfie rubbed his hands together maniacally. “The crawl space.”

Mara wanted to question what on earth that meant, but she lost her focus when she spied Fabian across the hall fiddling with the doorknob of Mr. Sweet’s office. Alfie turned around to see what she was staring at. 

“What’s he doing?” Alfie asked.

“He has a delicate constitution,” Mara said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> drag him, mara


	3. For the Love of Heist

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 2:00 PM - UNDERNEATH THE STAGE 

Alfie dodged another ridiculously old cobweb and thanked his lucky stars that he’d already been forced to combat his claustrophobia. Even so, every couple of seconds his mind forced him to imagine that a very portly man was about to take a massive step on the stage and cause the whole thing to collapse on top of him. He tried not to dwell on it.

Mara was back at their station, coaching him in between reciting facts about robots to a rowdy group of little boys. “ _How far are you, Alfie?_ ” came Mara’s voice from over his walkie talkie.

Alfie groaned and propped himself up on his elbows. “ _Alfredo to Maraculous: once again, please use your code names. There’s no point in having walkies if you aren’t going to use walkie etiquette. Over.”_

Mara was so annoyed, she pressed the call button while she sighed so he could hear her _. “Maraculous to Alfredo: How far are you? Over._ ” she said. Alfie could practically hear her roll her eyes.

“ _Alfredo to Maraculous: almost to the front. It’s so dark down here. Over.”_

“ _What about the light on your phone?_ ” Mara asked.

“ _Ugh,_ _I left it back at the station,”_ Alfie grumbled. “ _And_ , _etiquette, Mara!”_

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 2:05 PM - THEATER HISTORY PRESENTATION 

Just a few feet away, Nina and Eddie were chatting in the common room, unaware of the fact that their victory was being stolen at that very moment. 

Eddie absently flipped through the projector slides. Their station hadn’t been very popular ever since Eddie took the lead and led the presentation. They weren’t complaining though.

“So you all knew that the ghost Mara and I were hunting was a murderous she-demon, and you just, like, let that happen?” Eddie said.

“We did not just ‘let that happen,’” Nina said. “We tried to stop you _multiple times_.”

“I think I would remember if five of my housemates told me to back off their demon bully,” Eddie said. Then he made a face like he suddenly heard what that sounded like. “Damn, how boring are your summers compared to that?”

Nina had to laugh. “Compared to breaking Egyptian curses? _Very boring_ ,” she said.

“Hang on, where are you from again?” Eddie asked. He felt like she’d said before but he couldn’t remember. For some reason, Nina went silent. She fiddled with a knob on the slide projector. “What, am I not allowed to know?” he asked.

Nina sighed. “Don’t make fun of me,” she said. 

“Make fun of you?” Eddie said, slightly offended she would assume he would. “What, are you from Ohio or something?” he snickered.

Next thing he knew he was dodging a kick to the shins. “No way...” Eddie said. Nina’s expression confirmed everything he needed to know.

“Shut up, I swear to god...” she said.

“ _Ohio_?” Eddie said. “You’re kidding — this is gold and yet I’m the only one here who knows how lame —”

“It’s not lame,” Nina interrupted. “Cleveland is a _huge_ city!”

Eddie laughed. “Sure, it’s the jewel of the Midwest,” he said.

Nina huffed, but she had nothing left to say. Instead, she took the control button from Eddie and clicked through the slides. “Well, where are you from, then?” she asked.

"Around," he said. Nina raised her eyebrows at him. 

Eddie sighed. "I was born in New York, but when I was a kid my mom moved us back to her family in Michigan,” he said. He hesitated, but then he added, “after my dad left.” The room was silent for a second, and Eddie cringed at himself.

Nina could tell just by his tight expression that he probably didn’t mean to add that. It wasn’t hard to see that he didn’t like to talk about his dad, at least not seriously. Despite all the loud, jerk energy he put out when he first moved in, she could tell there was clearly a lot more to him. She just wasn’t allowed past that wall.

After a moment, she asked, “Um, how old were you when you moved?”

“Six, maybe seven,” he said. He cleared his throat and rolled his sleeves up and then down again. 

Nina crossed her leg over the other and fiddled with the laces on her shoe. “It’s hard when you’re that young,” she said. “Moving...”

Eddie looked over at her. In the semi-darkness he couldn’t read her expression, but he knew it wasn’t pity. Just like Nina had been studying him, Eddie found himself trying to study her. He wanted to know her better ever since that night in the library, but he didn’t exactly know how to do that.

Nina clicked the projector and a photo of an Ancient Greek amphitheater appeared on the screen.

“I moved when I was seven too,” she said, “to my Gran’s house, in Cleveland.”

Eddie froze a bit. He tried to read her expression, but it was even harder than before. Of course he’d heard the stories — the ones about what happened to her parents. But Patricia told him it was a non-starter; she didn’t talk about it. So he didn’t ask.

Nina clicked over to the next slide: a painting of Ancient Greek performers.

“Moving sucks,” Eddie said.

Nina sighed. “Yeah, it does,” she said. A second later she added, “If you ever make fun of Ohio again I’ll end you.”

Eddie laughed. The tension hanging in the room dispersed. It was comfortable again, and Eddie went right back to feeling weirdly at home. 

“Right, like I’m scared of someone who reads history textbooks cover-to-cover.” He was lying of course, he was absolutely scared of her, but he’d never admit it. “You know, Michigan is pretty close to Ohio. You should visit, over the summer.”

He peeked at her. Like he expected, she had on the “did he really just ask me to visit him” expression. He worried he’d overstepped. With Nina, everything felt like brand new territory. “I guess I just might have to,” Nina said. Once again, she sounded pleasantly surprised. “I mean, you could visit me too.”

Eddie scoffed, “Gross, in _Ohio_?”

“What did I _just_ say about that?” Nina said. 

“I never said I wouldn’t talk trash, and I told you I’m not afraid of you.”

“You live in _Michigan_ , it’s one state over!”

Their little spat ended when Nina’s phone buzzed. When she read the text, she made such a puzzled expression that Eddie had to ask about it. “What is it?” he asked.

“I think Jerome thinks I’m stupid,” Nina said. She squinted at her phone. “I just got a text from ‘Fabian’ asking me to ‘share my intel in exchange for his autographed copy of _The Oxford Illustrated History of Ancient Egypt_ ,’” she read.

“Weird,” Eddie said. He reached out and Nina handed him the phone so he could read it for himself.

“Right?” Nina agreed. “How did he know I wanted that book?”

Eddie made a face at her. He didn’t like that he was becoming friends with such a big nerd. Another text came in. “This is absolutely Jerome; he’s the only person I know who texts in long-winded sentences,” Eddie said. “Plus, he’s not signing with that lame ‘xx’ thing that Fabian signs all his messages to you with.”

Nina snatched her phone back. “It’s not lame,” she said. Jerome sent yet another text and Nina recoiled. “Ugh...”

She sighed. “Well, might as well mess with him while we’ve got the chance, right? Got any ideas?”

“For messing with Jerry?” Eddie said. He rubbed his hands together. “Always.”

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 2:10 PM - SCIENCE OF BAKING STATION 

“Okay, does anyone have any _baking_ _related_ questions,” Joy asked the tired group of parents at their station. She got a few hands. “Questions that aren’t about the recipe for the cupcakes — it’s on the whiteboard,” she said. All of the hands dropped. 

“ _Okay, thanks_ ,” Patricia said curtly, signifying that they were done and everyone could clear out. A few parents took quick photos of the recipe and then followed the others out.

Patricia surveyed the room: they still had a whole table of cupcakes left even after countless waves of parents and their kids who kept coming back for seconds. She considered eating a cupcake herself but she knew the frosting would turn her mouth blue. 

“Happy parents’ day,” she said sarcastically. 

Joy went to the other side of the room and grabbed a pamphlet from the box. She picked at the edges with a frown, making little tears in the paper. “I said I was sorry, okay?” she said.

Patricia rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t talking about that,” she said. “Anyway, it’s just a stupid game.”

“Then _why_ are you so mad about it?” Joy asked. She was tired of the passive-aggression.

“I’m not. You’re the one who keeps bringing it up every five minutes,” Patricia said. She definitely sounded mad. She took a deep breath, but it didn’t calm her down. “Did it ever occur to you to discuss it with me before you chucked it in the bathroom?” Clearly she _was_ mad about it.

“I didn’t just ‘chuck it in the bathroom,’” Joy argued. “I had to make a split-second decision. I didn’t think it would get stolen.” Patricia scoffed under her breath, but Joy heard it. Joy crossed her arms. “What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” said Patricia. “I guess I shouldn’t have assumed you would have thought about the consequences of your actions.”

Joy’s eyebrows furrowed and she stopped picking at the pamphlet. “What does _that_ mean?” she said.

“Oh, come on, Joy. You haven’t exactly been the poster child for good decision-making lately,” Patricia said. 

Joy couldn’t believe Patricia was picking this fight again. She thought they were past all this. “Patricia, is there something you’re still mad about? Because if anyone should be holding a grudge, it’s me.”

“Oh my god, you have to get over this stuff with Fabian —”

“I’m not talking about _Fabian_ ,” Joy interrupted. “I’m talking about _you_. We’re supposed to be best friends, and yet recently it’s like you’ll take any excuse to be angry at me.” Patricia refused to look her in the eyes. “Why is it that any time I make a mistake, you’re the first person to jump down my throat about it?”

“Maybe it’s because you make a lot of mistakes, Joy,” Patricia snapped. “And you don’t care who you screwed over.”

Joy’s face tightened in anger, but she didn’t retort. Instead she turned away so Patricia couldn’t see her. She quickly swiped at her face. Patricia thought for a second that maybe she had been too harsh, but she was buzzing with too much anger to switch course.

“This is what I’m talking about,” Patricia grumbled.

Joy whipped back around. “I’m not going to apologize to you for having emotions,” she snapped. 

“I don’t want your apologies,” Patricia said. “I’m going to go get that shield back. And I don’t need your help.” She grabbed her jacket and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. 

Joy watched her leave with a hollowness in her chest. She leaned against one of the empty cupcake tables. She thought things would have been better by now.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 2:15 PM - BACK HALLWAY 

Alfie hurried down a deserted hallway with a huge smile. He rubbed a cobweb off his walkie talkie. “ _Alfredo to Maraculous: do you read? Over!”_

A moment later, his walkie beeped. “ _Maraculous to Alfredo: I read. Over.”_

 _“Alfredo to Maraculous: the pasta sauce has been retrieved! Over!”_ Alfie said. 

“ _The_ _**what**?!” _Mara said.

Alfie huffed. “ _T_ _he shield! I got the shield!”_ he whisper-shouted.

“ _Yes!”_ Mara said. He couldn’t see her, but he hoped she was doing some kind of victory dance. 

Alfie stopped running when he spotted an air vent just low enough that he could climb to with a chair and just wide enough that he could (probably) fit into. He saw a chair next to a classroom door and dragged it over. Then he tucked the shield under his arm, rolled up his sleeves, and climbed up. 

He flipped open the vent. In order to get the shield well into the duct like he wanted to, he would have to jump. He placed the shield in first, and then he squared his shoulders and planted his feet as solid as they could be on a wobbly old chair.

“Okay, Alfredo,” he said to himself, “today is the day I become as cool as all those spies in the movies.” He took a long, deep breath. And then in one, smooth motion, he launched himself straight into the vent. 

The only small hitch — he got caught at the hips. He kicked his legs in an attempt to propel himself fully into the duct. When that didn’t work, he tried pushing himself the opposite direction to try to get out. That also failed.

Alfie sighed and it echoed in the duct. “Well, this is my worst nightmare..."

“Oh my god!” Alfie heard from below him. “Who is that? What on earth are you doing?” the voice said. To Alfie’s dismay, it sounded like a teacher. 

“Uh, would you believe I sleep-walked into here?” Alfie shouted.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 2:25 PM - CHECK-IN STATION 

A lot of pulling, shouting, and unconvincing explanations later, Alfie was free from his metal prison. And Ms. Valentine, who was not happy to have found him stuck in an air vent, was taking him to his new prison.

“Hello, Amber,” Ms. Valentine said. Amber looked up from the doodles she was drawing on a blank name tag to find Ms. Valentine dragging Alfie by the arm. 

“What’s going on?” Amber asked. 

Ms. Valentine pursed her lips. “Well, I caught Mr. Lewis here half stuck in an air conditioning vent, and I thought to myself that maybe he has had far too much freedom for today,” she said with a grin. “So, he is here to relieve you of your check-in duties.”

Amber gasped and tossed her pen in her excitement. “Really?” she exclaimed. She jumped to her feet.

“Yes, now if you could go help Mara out in the robotics room, that would be lovely,” Ms. Valentine said. Then she looked right at Alfie when she said, “I’m sure she would appreciate having a partner around.”

Alfie sank down into the chair with slumped shoulders: the position of defeat. Amber, however, was beyond excited. She grabbed her bag off of Alfie’s chair and stuffed her pens and her earbuds inside. She followed Ms. Valentine out, but she lingered for a moment so she could mouth, “ _That shield is MINE!”_ to Alfie.

Alfie groaned and laid his head down on the table.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 2:30 PM - CHEMISTRY DEMO ROOM 

Jerome was in the middle of refilling beakers for the next demonstration when Fabian walked in. He looked worn out.

“Oi, where have you been; it’s been like an hour?” Jerome asked. 

Fabian marched up to him and spoke in a low voice so the three parents chatting with Mr. Sweet wouldn’t hear. “I’ve been suffering the consequences of your little errand,” Fabian hissed. “A couple of parents saw me messing with the lock on the office, and I had to lie and say I was helping the janitor with maintenance. But next thing I know, I’m being recruited all over school to unlock classrooms and fix jammed windows. I had to help Ms. Valentine unlodge Alfie from an air duct.” Fabian shuddered at the memory.

Jerome did a double take and nearly spilled some of the chemical he was pouring. “What, really?”

“Yeah, she found him with his whole upper body stuck inside the vent,” Fabian said. He looked around and then lowered his voice. “I think we should check it out. I couldn’t go up there with Ms. Valentine around but I think there’s a good chance he was hiding the shield,” Fabian said. For the first time all day, Fabian was excited to be finally getting somewhere.

But Jerome shook his head. “Not interested,” he said.

Fabian squinted at him. “What? Are you joking? You send me on a fool’s errand for nothing, and now I have an actual lead and you’re ‘not interested?’” Fabian said. “What is with you?”

“I believe we agreed you were on a need-to-know basis,” Jerome snapped. He picked up the filled beakers and walked back to Mr. Sweet.

But when Jerome turned his back, Fabian spotted something that looked an awful lot like his cell phone in his back pocket. Fabian’s jaw dropped. He lunged and was able to snatch it out of his pocket. However, the movement made Jerome fumble and he spilled a bit of one of his beakers.

“ _You stole my phone_?” Fabian hissed. 

“Boys!” Mr. Sweet said sharply. He smiled apologetically to the parents he was talking with. “Clarke, what spilled?”

Jerome moved away from the spill even though it was already all over his shoes. “Just acetone, sir,” he said.

Mr. Sweet nodded curtly and then handed him a towel and a solution to neutralize the spill. “Both of you, clean this up,” he said. “And behave.”

“Yes, sir,” Jerome and Fabian said. As they got to work, Mr. Sweet returned to the parents with numerous apologies. 

“Listen, Jerome,” Fabian whispered sharply, “I don’t even want to know what you’ve done with my phone, but I’ve had it with you. You have made it impossible for me to be your partner in this, so I’m getting even.”

Jerome sprayed solution on the floor, looking bored. “And how are you going to do that, Rutter?”

“Even if by some miracle you actually do pull this off and win, I will swear up and down that you cheated — and you know they’ll believe it in a second.”

Jerome’s expression was blank for a moment. Fabian couldn’t tell if it worked or not, but then Jerome grabbed him by the arm and then dragged him to the back corner of the room. Fabian looked at him questioningly.

Jerome took a big breath. “Look… I will tell you _everything_ ,” he said through gritted teeth, “on the condition that you stay out of it once I’m done. Deal?”

Fabian crossed his arms. On the one hand, he wanted to see Jerome crushed by the invalidation of his victory, but on the other he just wanted to know what the hell had been happening all day.

“Deal. Spill it,” Fabian said.

Jerome checked on Mr. Sweet, who was still busy chatting it up. Finally, he said, “The Frobisher Shield that everyone has been chasing around all day — the one that’s probably hidden in the air ducts… it’s a _fake_.”

Fabian’s eye doubled in size. “What? How?” he said.

“Lower your voice,” Jerome hissed. “It started right after we made the bet. Wednesday night I came to the school and began building a replica of the shield. It’s slightly crude, but it’s unnoticeable to someone who hasn’t studied it. I finished it this morning, put in the fake gem from when the real one was stolen, and then I waited until Mr. Sweet left his office at 12 o’clock.

“I knew I couldn’t get in through the office door without drawing attention from everyone else, so I broke in through the back window. Then, I replaced the real shield with the fake, hid the real one in the theater dressing room, and spent the rest of the day sending you on a wild goose chase and watching everyone else kill each other over a fake trophy. Are we good here?”

Jerome leaned back against a desk and watched as Fabian’s brain exploded right in front of him. “I…” Fabian stuttered. “But why did you take my phone?” he asked.

“Oh, that was just to mess with you,” Jerome said. He clapped Fabian on the arm and went back to the spill.

Fabian was still at a loss for words, but he opened his phone anyway to check the damage. He read the most recent message. “God dammit — Jerome what the hell?”


	4. If You Can’t Heist With Feeling - Don’t

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter, enjoy and prepare for shit to hit the fan

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 2:35 PM - MAIN HALLWAY 

Fabian marched down the hallway feeling a host of emotions. He wasn’t surprised that Jerome had somehow pulled off this charade, and he definitely wasn’t surprised that Jerome had spent the whole rest of the day messing with him just for fun. But he sure was mad about it.

Which was why he was heading to the common room; even if he promised he wouldn’t get in the way of Jerome’s plot, he’d be damned if he didn’t clear his name.

The common room was in half-darkness for the theater presentation, so he had to squint to see Nina. He spotted her and Eddie sitting on the stage. Nina was doubled over, laughing so hard she snorted — something she didn’t do very often. He felt his chest tighten a bit.

“Nina!” Fabian called. He waved her over.

She looked up and wiped a tear from her eye. To Fabian’s relief, she immediately smiled and jumped up to go meet him. “Hey,” she said. “What’s up?”

Fabian rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “I’m sorry about those weird texts you got. I just wanted to make it clear that those weren’t from me,” Fabian said. He knew it was weird apologizing for something that was entirely Jerome’s fault, but he felt so bad.

Nina grinned. “Just so we’re clear, your _Oxford Illustrated History_ is off the table?” she teased. 

Fabian laughed, and he felt lighter than he had all day. “After this fiasco, you can read it whenever you want,” he said. “So how’s parents’ day stuff going?” 

Nina shrugged. “Well, Eddie kinda scared off all the parents with his horrible presentation skills. Now it looks like they’re boycotting us,” Nina said.

Apparently, Eddie could hear them. “What can I say? I’m a genius,” he chuckled.

Fabian nodded. “Right… So what have you guys been up to all day then?” he asked Nina at a slightly lower volume.

Nina eyed him suspiciously and crossed her arms. “Are you trying to get intel on our plans?” she asked.

“Oh! No! Honestly, I couldn’t care less about the heist after the day I’ve had,” he assured her. Nina still looked suspicious, but her face softened. “How’s it been going with Eddie?”

Nina’s face lit up. She leaned in and whispered, “Good, actually! It’s been so weird ever since the whole, you know, _Osirion_ thing, but I think we’re actually becoming friends!”

Fabian felt that tightness in his chest again, but he put on a smile. “Wow… yeah, that’s great,” he said. 

Nina studied his face for a moment, then she said, “So, what are you going to do about Jerome?” Fabian let go of the tension he was holding in his shoulders. He could tell that she was trying to change the subject, but he couldn’t decide if that made him relieved or worried.

“I don’t know,” Fabian said.

“Are we talking Jerry?” Eddie called. “You should sabotage him!” Nina nodded vigorously in agreement.

Fabian crossed his arms. “No, it wouldn’t make a difference,” he said bitterly. “What I really want is to give him a taste of his own medicine, you know? I’m sick of him being so cocky.”

Nina frowned as the gears turned in her head. “Well, you’re basically trapped in there with Mr. Sweet aren’t you? Why don’t you do something to get Jerome in trouble?” she suggested.

Fabian snapped his fingers. “Perfect,” he said. “At the very least, I can get him detention. Thank you!” He kissed her on the cheek and then jogged out.

Once he was gone, Nina crossed her arms and turned to Eddie. Her suspicious expression had returned. “Is it just me, or did he seem a little too confident in Jerome’s victory?” she asked.

“I think that’s an understatement,” Eddie said. 

He got up and grabbed the screwdriver from Nina’s bag. Nina hurried over, feeling her stomach drop. Eddie dug in the screwdriver and pried up the floorboard.

The shield was gone.

“Well, shit,” said Eddie.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 2:37 PM - ROBOTICS DEMO ROOM 

Meanwhile, Mara was watching the clock tick in the robotics room. The primary school boys who had been at the demonstration earlier had returned, but they were perfectly content with Mara leaving them to their own devices with the robots. Across the room, Amber was fully absorbed in her phone, also content that Mara was leaving her alone.

Mara checked her walkie to see if the volume was up enough. It was, and still it was nothing but radio silence from Alfie. Time was running out. Last she heard, Alfie had the shield, but he didn’t say where he’d hidden it. Mara sighed. 

Then all of a sudden, her walkie beeped. Mara jumped up and quickly turned down the volume. She turned her back to Amber so that the sound wouldn’t travel to her. But Alfie didn’t say anything. A moment later, the walkie beeped again, and again, and again. But still no words from Alfie.

Mara frowned. “What?” she whispered. A second later, there was a long beep followed by a short beep. A pause. And then another long beep. Mara took a long exhale. “Seriously, Alfie?” she said to herself. She couldn’t say she was surprised though.

Mara reached under the desk and grabbed a pen and paper. She waited as more beeps and dashes came in, until finally there was silence. Like she suspected, Alfie started the sequence over.

It took her two cycles through the whole message, but finally she got it: — • • •, — •, —, • • • •, • — •, — — —, — — —, — — 

Mara pulled out her phone and looked up a morse code table. “ _Bathroom_?” she read when she finished translating. She frowned. She hoped this was Alfie actually telling her when the shield was and not just him letting her know he was taking a bathroom break.

She surveyed the room: Amber was still on her phone, the kids were still minding their own business. Even if it was a faulty lead, she figured this might be her last chance at victory. She stuffed her phone in her pocket, clipped on the walkie, and walked out.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 2:40 PM - MAIN HALLWAY 

Patricia was busy blowing off steam by spying on other teams. She’d just seen Eddie and Nina whispering and panicking at their station, so she ruled them out as possible suspects for the shield.

Next on her list was Alfie and Mara. Unbeknownst to her, she had just missed Mara on her way toward the boys’ toilets. She walked to the robotics room and barged in. But she didn’t see Mara nor Alfie. Instead, she found Amber of all people.

“What are you doing here?” Patricia asked. The primary school boys looked up in fear, but then realized she wasn’t talking to them and went back to their robot.

Amber looked up from her phone and walked over. “Oh, hey Patricia,” she said cheerily. 

Patricia looked at her questioningly. “Why aren’t you at your station?” Patricia asked.

“Oh, I got to switch with Alfie,” she said. “Ms. Valentine made him take my place ‘cause she caught him trying to sneak into an air vent...” Suddenly, Amber cut herself off. She looked like the light bulb lit up above her head. 

Unfortunately for Amber, Patricia got that same light bulb. “Interesting…” she said. Amber’s eyes widened when she realized that Patricia had figured out the same thing. “Well, have fun with the kids, Amber!” she said. Before, Amber could do anything, Patricia shoved her away from the door and then slammed it behind her as she raced out.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 2:42 PM - MAIN HALLWAY 

The halls were quieting down as the prospective parents and students started to leave. Patricia figured it was the perfect time for a desperate vent crawl for the shield. She didn’t know which vent Alfie used, but she assumed it wouldn’t be one that was out in the open.

She snuck around the corner to one of the more deserted hallways. With luck, she spotted a vent and a short crate nearby. On the crate, she was just tall enough that she could reach up and flip the vent open. She huffed; it had been a long time since she’d done a pull up. She took a deep breath, wiped the sweat from her palms, and then jumped.

She was able to get her arms halfway bent before they gave out. “Gah!” she yelled. She dropped back down to her feet, breathing like she’d just run a marathon.

She wiped her hands on her uniform and caught her breath. When she was ready to go again, she steadied herself on the crate and gave it an even bigger jump. But still she couldn’t pull herself up. 

Patricia sat down on the crate and faced the facts. She needed help, but she didn’t want to ask for it.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 2:45 PM - EMPTY CLASSROOM 

“ _This is Liberty Bell — I have eyes on Goth Pixie. Bald Eagle do you copy?”_ Nina whispered into her walkie. She was hiding in an empty classroom, watching Patricia run back to her station. 

“ _This is Bald Eagle, I copy,"_ said Eddie. “ _What’s she doing?”_

_“I caught her trying to sneak into the air vents, she gotta be following a trail for the shield. But she couldn’t get in. I think she went to go get help.”_

_“The air ducts?”_ Eddie said. There was silence as he thought. _“I’m going in!”_

Nina nearly dropped her walkie. _“What?”_ she whisper-shouted. “ _Are you insane? Are you even capable of crawling through a duct?”_

“ _I_ _t can’t be that hard; spies do it in the movies all the time. Have a little faith._ ” he said. 

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 2:46 PM - SCIENCE OF BAKING STATION 

“Have a nice day,” Joy said to what was hopefully her last group of the day. She sent one of the kids away with a big plate of cupcakes in an attempt to make a dent in their remaining batch.

“Joy!” Patricia shouted as she ran down the hallway toward her. When she reached Joy, she wheezed and bent at the waist to catch her breath.

“Patricia!” Joy asked. The harsh words of their previous fight left her mind for a split second as she supported Patricia by the arm.

“I need your help,” Patricia said. “I’m sorry. I know I said I didn’t, but I tried and I can’t do it.”

Joy stepped back. She eyed Patricia skeptically. “I thought I always made a mess of things,” she said bitterly. “You’re better off without me, remember?”

Patricia sighed. “I’m not though,” she admitted. Suddenly, she was flooded with waves of memories of her past mistakes. “Look, last year, when you were gone, I was a _mess_. I was practically a ticking time bomb. I…”

She looked up to find Joy’s face had softened. 

“The point is, I wasn’t being fair before. I’ve been acting like I’ve never made mistakes,” Patricia said. “You were right about how we’re supposed to be friends. I miss being on the same side.”

Joy’s little grin grew into a big grin. “So do I,” Joy said. “Plus... you were right about this year. I’ve been bitter. And I’m not over what happened,” Joy admitted. Patricia saw a dark cloud form in her expression. 

“But I’ve let my emotions get in the way,” Joy admitted. “I want to be on the same side again too.”

Patricia grinned. “So, you’ll help me?”

“They don’t call us the Dream Team for nothing,” Joy said.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 2:50 PM - SIDE HALLWAY 

“It’s so dusty in here!” Joy shouted. Her voice ricocheted off the vent and came out sounding echoey. Currently, she was crawling through the same duct Patricia had tried to get into. Patricia’s shoulders were too broad to fit in, so Joy had to take one for the team. Despite the dust, she moved surprisingly quickly.

“Joy, I’ve never been more impressed by you,” Patricia said.

“What?” Joy shouted.

“Nothing, you’re doing great!”

Patricia peered into the hallway to watch for oncomers. Down at the end, she spotted two parents walking into their station along with a teacher. Patricia groaned. “Dammit…” she said. She looked up at the vent. Joy was well into the duct by now. Patricia took off toward her station, knowing it would only take her a second and then she’d be back.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 2:51 PM - BOY’S BATHROOM 

Meanwhile, Mara was in the middle of checking the last boys’ bathroom in the school. She was waiting outside the door for the person inside to come out. “This better be what you meant, Alfie,” Mara said to herself. 

Finally, someone came out. It was a boy from Mara’s history class. “Oh, hey Andrew,” Mara said. He turned around looking a bit startled to be ambushed right outside the toilets. “Uh… is there anyone else in there?” Mara asked, trying to play it as casual as possible.

Andrew made a face at her. “Um, no. I don’t think so,” he said. He didn’t stick around to figure out why she was asking.

“Okay, thank you!” Mara called. Once he turned the corner, she pushed open the door and went in. After sneaking into four different boys’ bathrooms in one day, Mara felt like a hypocrite for calling Jerome a creep the year before. 

She checked all the places where someone might hide something as big as the Frobisher Shield. But she found nothing. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Mara grumbled.

Feeling defeated, she stormed out of the bathroom, only to come face-to-face with Ms. Valentine. Mara stopped dead in her tracks. 

“Mara?” Ms. Valentine exclaimed. “What were you doing in the boys’ toilets?” 

Mara racked her brain. Normally her lies took so long to come up with, and they were still bad. “Um… that’s a great question miss.” Ms. Valentine raised her eyebrows. “I was lost?” she tried.

Ms. Valentine sighed and took Mara by the shoulders, leading her back toward the main hallway. “What had gotten into you kids today?” she said.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 2:52 PM - CHEMISTRY DEMO ROOM 

“I know you know nothing about this, Rutter, but for me the taste of victory is unparalleled,” Jerome said. They were in the middle of their last demonstration of the day. Mr. Sweet was talking with a group of parents about the chemistry club while Jerome and Fabian set it up.

“Yeah, for someone like you who’s never tasted integrity, loyalty or true friendship I’m sure it does,” Fabian said, clearly unamused. 

“Oh, come on now, Fabian, cheer up” Jerome cooed sarcastically. “When I win, I promise to mention that you were also there — didn’t have anything to do with it, but you were there.” Fabian rolled his eyes.

Jerome snickered and put on his goggles for the demo. “Okay, now what do I do?” he asked Fabian.

Fabian pointed to the two beakers sitting on the lab bench. “Just pour the yellowish one into the blue one with the bubbles,” he said. Jerome grabbed them.

Mr. Sweet noticed Jerome approaching with the chemicals and clapped his hands. “Okay, everyone. It’s time for our last demonstration of the day!” Mr. Sweet said excitedly. “Now before we start does anyone want to hear a chemistry joke?” Fabian and Jerome both violently shook their heads. Mr. Sweet took the hint. “Okay, no joke. Go ahead then, Jerome.”

As discreetly as he could, Fabian stepped back until he was as far away from Jerome as possible.

As Jerome started pouring, Mr. Sweet said to the parents, “Now what will happen is the Vitamin C will — _oh my goodness_!”

The second Jerome’s chemicals combined, the mixture rapidly fizzed and then exploded into a huge tube of foam. It splashed everywhere, covering Jerome and splashing all over the ground. “AGH!” Jerome yelled.

Instantly, everyone panicked. Fabian had to turn his back to hide his laughter. “What happened?” Jerome yelled. What _happened_ was Fabian had made a criminally easy swap and replaced the real demo with yeast, hydrogen peroxide, and dish soap.

“Everyone, please keep calm,” Mr. Sweet said placatingly.

Mr. Sweet grabbed the beakers and gave them a waft. “Hydrogen peroxide,” he deduced. “Everyone, everyone, please! It’s alright, it’s harmless. Please don’t panic.” But then he turned to Jerome and his expression was furious. “Clarke, _what is the meaning of this_?” Jerome was speechless.

“Jerome, did you mix the right chemicals?” Fabian asked, pretending to be shocked. “Remember what told you about checking first?”

“Clarke, detention — every Friday for the rest of the term,” Mr. Sweet hissed. “Ladies and Gentlemen, if you’ll please follow me out…”

Jerome stood there, flabbergasted and dripping with blue foam. “I swear to god if this was you, Rutter…” he said.

Fabian looked him up and down. “You were right, Jerome. Victory does taste pretty great,” he said.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 2:58 PM - MAIN HALLWAY 

As Mr. Sweet led the group of parents to the front of the school. Joy crawled through the air ducts and came to a vent in the main hallway. In her hands, was the shield.

She checked her watch — she had just two minutes to spare and victory was on the horizon. “Patricia,” she called through the vent. “ _Patricia_.”

But Patricia was nowhere to be seen. “Great…” Joy grumbled. She quietly pushed on the air vent and was relieved when it easily swung open. “Okay, Mercer, you can do this…” 

She readied herself and clutched the shield tight. Then, she carefully wormed her way out. She succeeded in getting her full torso out, but then came the hard part. She twisted her body and bent sideways at the hips so that her arm could reach up and grab the edge of the vent. But then when she tried to twist more and grab with the other arm, she slipped. Her right leg dropped, leaving her dangling by one ankle and an arm. Finally, her limbs gave out and she tumbled to the ground.

In the fall, the shield launched out of her arms and landed several feet away. The clock struck 2:59.

Nina ran around the corner after hearing the noise. Her eyes widened when she spotted the shield. She made a mad dash for it and scooped it up. “Yes!” she shouted. 

But then Joy rose to her feet. She was coated in dust. “Hey! I crawled through a vent for that!” she said. She took off at full speed at Nina, who ran the other direction.

But before either of them could get very far, Patricia rounded the corner and intercepted Nina. In her hands was a huge plate of blue cupcakes. “Not on your life, Martin!” Patricia yelled. She started whipping the cupcakes at lightning fast speed at Nina. 

Nina screamed and skidded to a halt as she took cupcakes to the face. She tried to dodge but she couldn’t see. Patricia kept pelting her. With Nina distracted, Joy caught up and snatched the shield from Nina’s hands and held it above her head.

“VICTORY!” Joy shouted. 

_“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!”_

All three girls froze. Then they slowly turned on the spot. Mr. Sweet was standing in the doorway with an expression of pure, unadulterated shock. Joy lowered the shield back down and Nina wiped frosting out of her eyes. 

Before any of them could say anything, Ms. Valentine walked in with Mara. “There you are Mr. Sweet, I…” she stopped talking when she noticed the scene in front of her. “What is _happening_ today?” she demanded.

“That is what I would like to know,” Mr. Sweet said. “Ladies, explain!”

“Uh…” Patricia started.

But before she could speak, there was a horrible crack noise from above. Not even a second later, the drywall ceiling collapsed and with it came Eddie, who crashed down in a pile of rubble in the middle of the hallway. Apparently, he hadn’t been in the vents at all, just crawling precariously on top of the drywall ceiling.

Nina and Joy screamed and jumped back in terror.

“OH MY WORD!” Mr. Sweet shouted.

“Holy shit…” said Patricia.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 3 PM - MAIN HALLWAY 

“I am blown away — BLOWN AWAY,” Mr. Sweet shouted, “by whatever this _colossal_ mess is! Somebody explain, _now_!” His face was red like they’d only witnessed a few times before. 

Everyone was too terrified to speak. Students from all over crowded the doorways watching the carnage, but even they were too scared to whisper. All Mr. Sweet received was blank stares. That and Eddie moaning on the ground under a pile of drywall.

“Oh my goodness,” Mr. Sweet said, as if realizing for the first time that Eddie was there. He propped his son up to sit. “Edison. _Are. You. Okay_?” he said clearly.

“Viva la Révolution...” Eddie mumbled. He shot his fist into the air but then immediately yelped in pain. Patricia winced.

“Ms. Valentine, will you help me take him to the infirmary, please?” Mr. Sweet said.

Once he and Ms. Valentine got him to his feet, Mr. Sweet made a sweeping gesture at all of the Anubis kids present. “Detention!” he shouted. “Until the end of term!”

Before he left, he held out his hand to Joy. She gingerly handed him the shield. “Sorry, Mr. Sweet…” she said. Mr. Sweet huffed and then hobbled away with Eddie and Ms. Valentine.

Once they left, everyone watching went about their business. Though, they did hurry out of the building faster than usual.

“This sucks,” Joy said with a big sigh. She kicked the pile of drywall.

“Yeah, I think Eddie just broke every bone in his body,” Patricia said.

“Oh, that too,” Joy said. 

Jerome appeared from the chem lab, covered in blue foam, but otherwise looking incredibly pleased. 

“What are you grinning about?” Nina asked.

“If you’ll all follow me please?” Jerome said. They all looked at each other; no one liked the sound of that. Regardless, they all followed him toward the common room. Nina made a questioning glance at Fabian, but he had no words, just an annoyed expression.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 3:05 PM - THEATER DRESSING ROOM 

“What are we doing in here, weasel?” Patricia asked. It was hot with all of them in there. The room wasn’t very big and it was crowded with costume racks and stacks of props.

Jerome popped on a pair of black sunglasses. “Glad you asked Patricia,” Jerome said. “We are in here so that I can reveal to you the greatest con I have ever pulled off.”

Fabian leaned against the back wall. “Gag me with a spoon…” he grumbled to himself. 

“When we first made the bet for this heist, I knew I was going to have to up my game to outsmart all of you. Now, can anyone here tell me what the first rule of heisting is?” Jerome asked.

“Oh, this is going to be unbearable,” Nina assessed.

Jerome ignored her. “It doesn’t surprise me that none of you know that the _first, cardinal_ rule of heisting is: _always stay one step ahead_. Knowing this, I started planning my strategy the second we concocted the bet.”

“Get on with it, Jerome,” Joy said. 

“Buddy, it’s so hot in here,” Alfie complained.

“Fine! I will explain how I did it, but first, let me reveal to you all…” Jerome paused for dramatics as he reached behind a costume chest and pulled out a velvet bag, “The _real_ Frobisher Shield!”

The room was dead silent as all of his housemates stared at him blankly. It was not the reaction Jerome had been hoping for. (He’d been hoping for tears).

“Uh, Jerome, that’s not the Frobisher Shield,” Mara said.

“What?” Jerome yelled. He took a look at what he was holding in his hand. He was repulsed to find that it indeed was not the Frobisher Shield, but instead a plain block of wood with the word **LOSER** written on it in huge block letters.

All of a sudden the lights shut off. Everyone yelped in surprise. When they flicked back on, Amber was sitting on top of the costume chest wearing a glowing smile. In her arms was the real Frobisher Shield. 

“Time to bow down to your Queen,” Amber said.

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 3:10 PM - THEATER DRESSING ROOM 

“This is the weirdest day of my life,” Patricia said.

Meanwhile, Jerome was losing his mind. “What the hell is going on?” he shrieked. “How did _you_ get it?” He pointed an accusing finger at Amber.

“It’s simple Jerome,” Amber said with a poised demeanor. “Thank you for the lights, Fabian.”

“Anytime,” Fabian said from the back of the room with a nod.

Jerome gasped. He pointed at Fabian now. “You! You must have told her! Rutter, I swear to god…”

“I didn’t tell her anything,” Fabian said. “I’m just here for the show.”

“He’s right, Jerome,” Amber said. She hopped off the chest and brushed off her uniform. “I outsmarted you all on my own, just like I promised.”

“Amber, how did you do this?” Nina asked, genuinely impressed.

“Easy,” Amber said. “When I started this bet partner-less, I knew I had to get ahead. And I started by getting some intel. To do so, I stole Alfie’s surveillance bugs…”

“Ah man, I knew I didn’t lose those!” Alfie said.

Amber continued, “When Ms. Valentine had me pass out the pamphlets, I planted one at each of your stations and one outside Mr. Sweet’s office. That way, I could listen to all of your plans all day long.

“When I heard Joy make the first move and steal the shield from the office, I led a group of parents directly to where I knew she was supposed to hide it, scaring her into ditching it somewhere less safe.

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t leave my station to go get it, but over the bug I did hear it when Nina and Eddie stole it next. _Obviously_ , I knew it was hidden under the stage, but there was no version of reality in which I would subject myself to going into that nightmare of hole...”

“It’s not _that_ bad…” Nina said to herself, wondering why everyone couldn’t cope with a little dust.

“So, when Alfie came to my station trying to trick me into giving him information, I was given the perfect opportunity. I tipped him off that Nina and Eddie had the shield and subtly reminded him about Nina’s knack for finding hiding places, which led him right where I wanted him.

“But that’s when I heard Jerome tell Fabian that he had made a replica of the shield, and that the real shield was already stolen and safely hidden in here. So in a way, it was actually you, Jerome, who told me your entire plan,” Amber said with a sickly sweet smile. Jerome clenched his fists, looking like he wanted to punch a wall.

“Anyway, now that I knew the shield was a fake and knew where the real one was, I got to work sending you all on a wild goose chase. First, I sent Mara a message in Morse Code leading her to every boys’ bathroom on campus…”

“Hang on!” Mara exclaimed. “You couldn’t have, you would have needed Alfie’s walkie, _and_ you were in the same room, _and_ you were on your phone the _whole_ time!”

“You’re right, Mara, I did need Alfie’s walkie. Which is why I stole it off him when Ms. Valentine made us trade stations. Then, I looked up one of those morse code charts on my phone and very easily tricked you into following a false lead.”

Mara plopped down onto a costume box, looking like her whole world had been shattered by being outsmarted by Amber Millington.

“But I still needed more people out of my hair, which is why I was _so excited_ when Patricia came knocking at my door,” Amber said with a big smile.

Patricia groaned, “Kill me now…”

“When she asked me why I was there, all I did was pretend to slip up and give her information on where Alfie had hidden the fake shield. Then, when everyone was running around and fighting over the fake, I snuck in here, and replaced the real shield with that plank of wood. Then, all I had to do was wait.”

Amber beamed at all their shocked faces. “You can applaud now!”

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 7 PM - ANUBIS 

“And with this crown, I dub thee: Amber Millington, Queen of the Heists!” Alfie declared in the living room of Anubis. He placed a huge plastic crown that they had found in the dressing room on Amber’s head. Joy played a little trumpet sound on her phone and everyone applauded.

“Yay!” Amber squealed. A moment later, she regained a perfectly poised composure. “I promise to be a fair and just ruler, who is also smarter and more clever than all of you could ever hope to be.”

Patricia raised her glass of orange juice high in the air. “A toast!” she declared with a big smile.

Fabian made a face. “To what? You didn’t win,” he said.

But Patricia kept her glass raised. “A toast to the fact that Jerome _didn’t_ win!” she finished. Everyone but Jerome gladly raised their glasses and shouted, “To Jerome not winning!”

Jerome glared at them and scoffed. “Ha, ha,” he said. “You all just wait — next time there’s a heist I will grind all of you to a pulp without batting an eye.”

“Next time?” Nina scoffed. “Are you kidding? We all have detention for the next _month_. Can you imagine what Mr. Sweet would do if we tried that again?”

“Don’t worry about old Sweetie,” Eddie said. He collapsed next to her on the couch and stifled a pained groan. “I broke through the bottom layer of the ceiling and he didn’t even expel me,” he said.

Nina raised an eyebrow. “Maybe because he figured fracturing your arm was punishment enough,” she said. 

Eddie smirked. “Worth it."

“Really?” asked Patricia.

“No, not even a little,” he said immediately. 

He looked over at Nina and grinned when he noticed her face and neck were tinted blue from the cupcakes. “Auditioning for Blue Man Group later?” he joked.

“Go ice your arm,” Nina grumbled, but she smiled anyway.

“So Amber,” Joy said, “what are you going to do with all your free time now that you don’t have chores?”

Amber thought for a moment. “I don’t know… maybe I’ll spend it polishing my new shield,” she joked. Jerome huffed and sat down in a chair in the corner. “Actually,” said Amber, her tone suddenly serious, “I’ve decided to give the shield to Jerome.”

Jerome looked up at her, shocked. “What, why?” he asked.

“I heard about the whole 30 years of bad luck thing, and I decided I’ve had enough curses for one lifetime,” she said.

“What?” said Mara.

“Nothing!” said Amber. “Okay, the truth is, I know this shield means a lot to you, and to your dad. If it’s important for you to have it, I think you should.” Amber walked over and handed it to him.

Jerome held it delicately in his hands. He didn’t quite know what to say. “I… thanks Amber,” he said. Amber just smiled. Jerome thought for a moment. “You know, Mr. Sweet doesn’t actually know he has the fake one… Maybe it should go back to where it belongs.”

￮ ￮ ￮

FRIDAY 11 PM - STUDENT COMMON ROOM 

By 11 o’clock that night, the Frobisher Shield was placed securely in its new resting spot. Underneath the stage in the common room was the shield and it’s gem, along with a note that read:

“Let it be known that Jerome Clarke, Amber Millington (Queen of the Heist), and Alfie Lewis are now and forevermore the reigning ping pong champions of Amut Academy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and a fun little ending to off-set the carnage of those last five minutes of the heist, yee!
> 
> @frobisher-smythe I hope this parents' day fic was everything you dreamed of lol :) our girl Amber pulled through like she was always meant to.
> 
> Also to any BB99 fans - eddie is absolutely the jake of this show and I have zero doubts that he would fall through the ceiling if given a reason to be up there. sorry to this man
> 
> I also couldn't resist throwing in a few jokes about nina and that god damned craw space, hope they were appreciated. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!


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